Juneau to Ketchikan via Glacier Bay – July 2 to August 2

We did it all on this leg, sightseeing, fishing, short and long travel days, and waiting for weather and dock congestion. During that time, we ended up spending 13 nights within the borders of Glacier Bay National Park (five of those nights in peripheral areas not covered by the permitting system).

We left Juneau on Thursday, July 2 ahead of the Independence Day long weekend and anchored in Sawmill Bay, far up Excursion Inlet. While within the borders Glacier Bay Nation Park (GBNP), entry is not controlled like the waters of Glacier Bay. With a cool and damp weather forecast, we ended up staying in Sawmill Bay for two nights.

On July 4, we traveled west along Icy Strait past the entrance to Glacier Bay and made our way to the northern end of Dundas Bay (also a non-permitted portion of the park). We settled in for 3-nights of damp and unsettled weather. While outside in Icy Strait, winds rose to 20-30 kts, we saw less than 10 kts.

Upon leaving Dundas Bay with better weather, we headed across Ice Strait for some halibut fishing in Mud Bay. After Marcia caught a couple, we went closer to shore an anchored for the night. The next morning, we returned to the same location and caught an additional halibut. For the night we went east in Icy Strait and anchored in Flynn Cove, where we launched the dinghy, went to shore so that Drake could get some ball play.

Several months earlier we obtained an “advance-notice” permit of 7-days/6-nights for Glacier Bay starting on July 11, but in a few days earlier we also obtained a “short-notice” permit for two days entering on July 9. With those 9-days, 8 nights in the permitted portion of Glacier Bay National Park, we visited both the west and east arms as well as spend both the first and last nights in Bartlett Cove so that Drake could get some ball play and shore time (dogs are prohibited from the shore in GBNP except in Bartlett Cove and then only in limited areas).

In Tarr Inlet, at the head of the west arm, is the tide water Margerie Glacier, which calves ice directly into the inlet, and the Grand Pacific Glacier, whose terminus is several hundred yards short of the water. The Margerie Glacier leads quickly up towards the steep summits of the Fairweather Range, which separates Glacier Bay from the Gulf of Alaska, The Grand Pacific Glacier leads north about 16 miles into British Columbia. We spent about an hour drifting in front of the glaciers just enjoying setting. While drifting, a car size chunk of ice “joined” us. We gave it a push with a boat hook sending it away before we restarted the engine and departed.

We took advantage of our extra days in the park by spending time in the east arm and traveling to the very end of Muir Inlet. It is a lovely section of the park but doesn’t get as much recreational boat traffic as the west arm. It too, has glaciers, such as the Muir and the Riggs but most end before reaching the waters of Glacier Bay.

While returning to Bartlett Cove, like many boaters up and down the coast this summer, we got to share the waters with the 390’ mega yacht Launchpad owned by Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook. Our encounter was in Sitakaday Narrows, a few miles NW of Bartlett Cove. I did my best to get out of the way as it was doing 19 knots and throwing a large wake. We spent our last night in Bartlett Cove and gave Drake his last play session in the park.

Since Glacier Bay is the furthest north we go, it has become our turnaround point and we are now heading (more or less) south. We decided to take Stephens Passage on the east shore of Admiralty Island into Frederick Sound. For our first night after Glacier Bay, we used Colt Island, about 8 miles SSW of Auke Bay near Juneau. While not particularly scenic, it was convenient and it allowed us to reach the next day one of our favorite anchorages on the west shore of the West Brother Island in Frederick Sound. While in the area, we were going to try some fishing for prawns and halibut. After a couple of days of mediocre results, we decided to head into Petersburg. Along the way, we experienced some strong winds. Even while in Petersburg we had winds in the mid-20’s with gusts in the low 30’s (knots). Fortunately, we were securely tied to the dock at the time.

After two nights in Petersburg, we headed through Wrangell Narrows and made our way into Ernest Sound. We spent a few days in Ernest Sound trying some new prawning areas. While we got prawns in most of them, the hauls weren’t great and we decided to head towards Ketchikan.

This final section, about 60 miles, took us a remarkably long time to travel. From our last anchorage in Ernest Sound, Santa Ana Inlet (photo on left of spectacular BC wild fire smoke enhanced sunset while in Santa Anna), we went first to the public dock in Meyers Chuck (photo on right of float plane shortly after takeoff from public dock in Meyers Chuck). We spent two nights here, one of which was on account of weather. Drake didn’t object because he got to play with another labradoodle who belonged to one of the community residents. While talking with them we learned that one of fishing areas near Ketchikan, District 1, had not opened for commercial fishing as expected and the harbors were full. Many boats were anchoring out in Tongass Narrows, the channel passing in front of Ketchikan. Subsequently, we also learned that because of construction on the Bar Harbor floating breakwater, some permanent boats were being relocated to slips that would typically be available for transient boats. Rather than risk having to anchor out in the very busy Tongass Narrows, we headed over to Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales (PoW) Island. We spent three nights there, doing lots of walks and play sessions with Drake.

Finally, on August 2, after hearing that commercial fishing had reopened in District 1, we left Thorne Bay and headed into Ketchikan, where we were able to get a slip.

Leg 4 – 24 Travel Days, 787.8 NM, 140.3 Engine Hours

Meandering to Juneau – June 7 to June 28

Meander seems to be the operative term to describe our cruising style this season. Similar to our previous leg out of Ketchikan, we first did a short excursion near Sitka then returned to stay a few more days.

South of Sitka for about 30 miles is a section of coast that has offshore islands that create a protected travel route with many good anchorages. From Sitka, we cruised to Kliuchevoi Bay, which is next to the very popular Goddard Hot Springs. This was our first visit here because we’ve been put off by the crowds that we expected to find here. Perhaps because it was still early in the cruising season, the hot springs were not crowded, and we managed to have one of the two USFS constructed bath house to ourselves on the two days we were in Kliuchevoi Bay.

From here we made a short jaunt to First Narrows Cove, nestled between three islands with a narrow entry channel. It was rocky and had no functional beach, so we then went to Seven Fathom Bay where the USFS has a recreational cabin. In front of the cabin was a grassy area above a shallow rocky beach on which we landed our dinghy. Drake thought the beach perfect, so we suspect we’ll be visiting again. Our last night before returning to Sitka was in Leesofskaia Bay, a short distance from Sitka.

The next morning, we docked back in Eliason Harbor of Sitka, coincidentally in the same  slip as we had five days earlier. While in Sitka we attended one of the evening concerts from the Sitka Music Festival, did lots of walks on the trails around the town, and picked up all the packages we were expecting.

On Friday, June 19, after a luxurious seven days in Sitka, we headed out. We had been communicating with Kathleen & John Douglas on Laysan (a sister ship to Alpenglow), and had agreed to rendezvous on Kuiu Island. We made an intermediate anchorage at Ell Cove on Baranof Island, before meeting up with Laysan. Also joining the rendezvous was Luck Dragon owned by Ed and Carlene (aka, Charlie). Luck Dragon is a “classic” Diesel Duck 462 that is a cousin ship to our sedan style Diesel Duck. We dropped our dinghy to shuttle folks between the vessels for our evening gatherings on Laysan. After two nights in the Shelter Bay area of Tebenkof Bay, we all went our separate ways.

Our next stop was a relatively short distance north to Rowan Bay. There is a USFS dock here but it isn’t advertised as a public dock. We went and checked it out with our dinghy hoping for convenient shore access for walking the roads. As best, I can determine, it is more likely a work float or designed for float planes. The USFS has an extensive road system on Kuiu Island and they may stage some of their support activities from here. There were several trucks parked at the top of the dock. We did a short walk and found what we believe were moose droppings.

We then crossed Chatham Strait to Gut Bay where we dropped our prawn pots before anchoring. The catch the next morning was skimpy so we did not reset but instead headed back across Chatham Strait to Saginaw Bay. John Douglas had mentioned a trail that led from the anchorage at its end to connect with the Kuiu Island road system. This was a “new to us” anchorage and perfectly fine but a long ways back. When I had talked to John about the anchorage, I neglected to ask which stream fork led up to the trail and, of course, when presented with a choice, chose the wrong fork. Something for another visit.

A long day from Rowan got us to Pavlof Harbor on Chichagof Island and a shorter one the next day to Whitestone Harbor. We were positioning to go into Juneau but with a windy forecast, rather the moving to Funter Bay about 12 miles closer to Juneau than Whitestone, we elected to stay two nights in Whitestone. A very early start on Sunday, June 28 had us in Juneau before 10 AM.

Leg 3 – 13 Travel Days, 385.5 NM, 66.7 Engine Hours

Meandering to Sitka – May 13 to June 3

In recent years we have set goals that get us north of Ketchikan quickly (e.g., Little Norway Festival in Petersburg or beating the start of the commercial prawning season). This year, absent such a goal we took a less scripted and meandering path.

First, since it had been a few years since we we’ve been around Revillagigedo Island  (this is the very large island on which Ketchikan is located). The circumnavigation of the island is about 125 miles (not counting diversions for anchoring) but since we don’t particularly enjoy the SE corner of the route, we traveled clockwise around the island as far as Walker Cove on the east channel of Behm Canal then turned around to retrace our route counterclockwise. Besides, Walker Cove, we used Yes Bay and Traitor Cove as intermediate stops in both directions. Traitor Cove was a new stop for us. It has a public dock which we were able to use on the return leg of the trip. After this 6-day jaunt we returned to the Bar Harbor docks of Ketchikan.

After two nights in Ketchikan, we started our northbound journey in earnest and traveled first to Frosty Bay, about 2/3’s of the way from Ketchikan to Wrangell. We’ve gone past Frosty Bay many times since it is only about 4 miles north of Santa Anna Inlet, an anchorage we’ve used often. There is a USFS cabin at the bay but we didn’t have time to check it out before leaving the next morning. We continued the next day to Berg Bay, which also has a USFS cabin. Here we did have time and we launched our dinghy, taking Drake to shore and playing ball with him on the grassy patch in front of the cabin.

From Berg Bay we traveled to Wrangell for the Memorial Day weekend. One of the attractions of going to a dock in a SE Alaska town are the walks we can do. Wrangell has sidewalks along most of their roads as well a few trails, so Drake is always anxious to get off the boat and start exploring the different scents. It being spring-time in SE Alaska, one of the scents are the blooming skunk cabbages.

Up to this point we had not done any prawn fishing. The commercial prawn season started on May 15 but it was now closed in most districts. We decided to try some of the areas in Fredrick Sound that were productive for us last year. We traveled first to Sanborn Canal in Port Houghton. The next day, we dropped our prawn pots on the way into Hobart Bay for the night. We were disappointed by the slim harvest of prawns but attributed some of the shortfall to the octopus that was in one of our pots when we pulled it up.

From here we traveled a little north to Windham Harbor to drop pots. The next day’s harvest was pretty good, but we had to work for it. Both this year and last year, we've been surprised by how strong the tidal current is here, and by its timing. We pull our pots by hand, and the current makes that harder: the boat drifts with the current, but the pot sits still on the bottom. So, as we haul the line in, it's dragging through moving water the whole way — like pulling a drogue. The stronger the current, the harder the pull. We thought we were pulling pretty close to slack (an hour after low) but the current was acting like nealy a one knot ebb current.

Even though it had only been a few days since we had been in Wrangell, Drake was getting antsy, so we headed to an anchorage with a nice play beach, Honey Dew Cove on Kuiu Island. Two nights here seemed to do the trick. To reward ourselves as well as satisfy Drake’s needs, we headed next to Warm Springs Bay on Baranof Island. We were able to get on the public dock which made accessing the trail to Baranof Lake and the hot baths convenient. Again, two nights seemed to do the trick.

An “oh-dark” start from Warm Springs Bay allowed us to get to the DeGroff Bay near Sitka in one day. The next morning, June 3, had us on the dock in Eliasen Harbor in Sitka completing this leg.

Leg 2 – 16 Travel Days, 569.4 NM, 93.5 Engine Hours

Sweet 16 – Bainbridge Island to Ketchikan – April 29 to May 11

We started our 2026 cruising season (our sixteenth trip) on Wednesday, April 29 with a relatively modest first day of cruising from Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island to the Port Townsend Boat Haven and a quick visit with the folks at Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop (PTSC).

During our regular maintenance haul out earlier in April, we had PTSC upgrade most of the electronics at our helm stations. Our multifunction displays (MFD’s) at both our upper and lower helms were the builder installed “classic” Raymarine E- series models E80 & E120. Our preference is to replace critical equipment before failure to avoid the disruption and possible extra cost of emergency repairs or replacement. We deemed the radar portion of the MFD’S role critical and decided to do the work now. The newly installed Garmin equipment was operating correctly except for the new Garmin AIS which was performing subpar. We stopped by Port Townsend to see whether a new AIS-VHF antenna would fix the issue. Sadly, it didn’t and our view of AIS targets remains less than we’d like.

While in Port Townsend we crossed paths with a “cousin” vessel, the classic Diesel Duck Shearwater owned by David Cohn. David is an avid and expert fisherman and spends much of his Alaska time in the Sitka area laying in loads of seafood for the winter. He had left from his home in the San Juan Islands a few days us before but returned to Port Townsend when he saw some erratic electrical monitoring equipment not working correctly. His problem was quickly fixed with a new connector.

After Port Townsend, we positioned in Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island in the San Juan Islands Archipelago. We made the short crossing the next day to Port Browning on North Pender Island. It is a Nexus Canadian Border station, and there is a grocery store only a half mile walk from the marina. We wanted to provision with the fresh produce that we weren’t able to take across the border. Port Browning Marina also has a huge grass field where Drake can play ball until total exhaustion (as indicated by his tongue hanging sideways out of his mouth). It being May 1, there was a May Day Celebration being held on the lawn during our visit.

From here we started a steady march northward. On May 2, we traveled 74 miles to Tribune Bay on Hornby Island. On May 3, we traveled a more modest 64 miles to Otter Cove on Discovery Passage but transited the often-problematic Seymour Narrows north of Campbell River. May 4 was 95 miles to Port Alexander on Nigel Island, positioned for crossing Cape Caution. A 93-mile day on May 5 got us around Cape Caution, during which we deployed our stabilizers in the water, and up to Strom Cove on Seaforth Channel, north of Bella Bella. Next day’s 68 miles put us in Khutze Inlet along Graham Reach and catching us back up with David Cohn’s Shearwater. With a forecast for deteriorating weather and the memory of being stuck the previous year in Klewnuggit Inlet on Grenville Channel for four nights, we traveled 89 miles on May 7 to an overnight in Kelp Passage on Porcher Island followed by a short 20 mile day to get us to Cow Bay Marina in Prince Rupert.

After two nights in Prince Rupert (and lots of play for Drake despite periodic rain), the weather improved enough for us to travel on May 10 the 33 miles to Brundage Inlet on Dundas Island, where we again shared the anchorage with Shearwater. The next day, May 11, with an additional 57 miles we arrived in Bar Harbor Marina in Ketchikan.

Leg 1 – 13 Days, 682.2 NM, 104.8 Engine Hours